Storm of Shadows: Orre
by Renegade Zero
Summary: Follow the travels of a person trying to retire from the stealing business. And finding out the hard way that the past not only can haunt your dreams, but your reality too...
1. Chapter One

_Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon or any related characters. I do however own all OC's created by me._

**_Okay, this is a Colosseum fic, but not WesxRui, though die hard fans might see it like that, anyways this follows Colosseum sometimes, and sometimes not. There's little tweaks and twists to make this story my own. So read on if you want..._**

* * *

_**Chapter One;  
The **__**Meeting**_

* * *

****

Shade sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, if anyone had told him at eighteen he was going into 'retirement', he most likely would have beaten them to a bloody pulp. And while he didn't look like he could, or look like much for the matter, Shade most likely could. Just because he was lanky looking didn't mean he really was. The blue trench coat he had covered him well enough.

Running a hand through messy auburn hair, Shade pondered his choices, and they were slim as it was. But before he could be pulled into the dark angst of the moment, one of his pokemon gave a cry behind him as they ran up, it seemed they had escaped Simon and his 'elite' snatchers.

Giving a smug grin, Shadw turned around, watching as his Umbreon, Hikage and the Espeon, Violet. "Hey boy!" Shade said while kneeling down as the Umbreon came bounding up first, skidding to a halt infront of him, ears pricked up and blood red and blue eyes bright as his tail wagged slightly, awaiting the praise for escaping the idiots. Violet came up at a more dainty run as she slowed to an elagent stop infront of her trainer, ears forward and pointing at Shade as he reached out and scratched her carefully around the precious gem on her forhead, "Hey there sweetie," he murmured, then grinned again as the Espeon purred softly from the attention while her brother just gave a gruff growl while closing his eyes.

An annoyed shout alerted Shade that the calm had just been broken. "Well 'Kage, Vio', seems we're gonna have to fight our way out of here." The young man remarked calmly, dark gold eyes narrowing slightly while infront of him two two Eeveelutions gave yipping cries as they showed their trainer they were still up for a fight.

* * *

Several hours later, Shade found himself on the outskirts of any civilization in Orre, it was an outpost of sorts. The 'building' was actually an old Train engine turned bar of sorts, and by old it was old. Not even one of the first hover transports, but an actual coal burning engine, or was. Not that Shade really cared for that as he pushed the large silver visor up, squinting slightly from the glare of the mid-day sun. Violet and Hikage had been recalled a while ago to prevent the duo from getting heat stroke.

Humming an old song to himself, Shade headed for the bar, intent on getting something to drink. Even if he was under-age he had a tab here of sorts. And he was in such a hurry to get into the place, he almost ran into two in a rush to leave. Ignoring their grumblings at him being a shrimp, small fry and what-not, Shade just memorized their faces for a later pounding. And with a swish of his coat, Shade headed inside, not hearing the muffled plea of help that escaped a burlap sack as a truck those same two that shoved into him drove off in.

"Yo, Harley!" Shade all but bellowed out, ignoring the shushes from the people watching the TV as he approached the bar and sat down, and the orange haired Harley was already mixing up Shade's drink of choice when someone finally managed to turn the tv volume up enough so everyone could listen to the news. With a barely interested glance at it, Shade sat on his stool, absently kicking his booted feet every now and then like a young kid would do when bored.

Yet his demenor changed once the drink was set down, snatching it up he quickly started to chug it down, savoring the tang of the acohol on his taste buds and as it slid down his throat. "Ahh," Shade sighed as he set the nearly empty glass down, a small grin toying on his face as he sat there, that's just what he needed to relax after a hard days work. Pulling out around a dozen dollar bills, he tossed them onto the table and stood up, thanking Harley once and exited the establishment and headed for the transport he had 'borrowed' from Simon.

The '_transport_' turned out to be a pokemon Shade had 'snagged' from Simon just before leaving. Hard blue eyes met his gold ones evenly, and the grey and dark crimson scaled hide almost glistened in the sunlight as the Aerodactyl stared Shade down without fear, intelligence evident in the eyes, even if everyone claimed these resurected pokemon were souless.

"Hey there Typhoon," Shade said gently, more so then he had ever in his life. But he found out almost the hard way that this was not a pokemon to be harsh with, as it seemed Simon wasn't exactly the best trainer for any stubborn pokemon.

The Aerodactyl squwaked warrily, the arrow spiked tail swished warningly as the pokemon swung his head down to stare at Shade almost eye to eye. Shade raised his hands up, "See boy, I come in peace,"

The Aerodactyl snorted, but slowly lowered his head down, shifting his body and wings to allow Shade to climb onto his back, and only then could some of the damage to the pokemon be seen, old scars crisscrossed Typhoon's back, wings and around the smaller then normal head crest. "Easy boy," Shade murmured as he climbed onto the pokemon's back, settling himself at the nape of the 'Dactyl as Typhoon carefully pushed himself upright, then half leapt half scrambled for purchase in the air with his wings, and for a few moments it seemed like the Aerodactyl would fall back to the ground, but in a few short and powerfull flaps of his wings, the ancient pokemon was in the air, and heading swiftly for the next town.

Gripping at the scaled hide of the pokemon with one hand, Shade pulled his visor back down over his eyes. Looking up from the quickly passed over ground, Shade contented himself with the fact he would soon be in Phenac and well onto his new choice in life styles.

Though he wasn't sure how he pull off a trainer act when he hadn't really been a trainer when he worked for Snaggem.

Gently nudging Typhoon with a leg, he gave the pokemon the signal to speed up. He wanted to make it to Phenac before nightfall.

* * *

Phenac was one of the few places in Orre that had water natrually before anything was built. But the 'beautifull' city was really a waste with all the fountains and the 'rivers' around the town to help try and cool the city off. Oh it did alright, but at the expense of precious water.

And these were the thoughts of Shade as he casually started the trek up to the entrance to Phenac, Typhoon having been recalled while Violet and Hikage walked on each side of him, it was never a wise idea to withdraw all your pokemon completely unless you knew the place was safe. Utterly.

Shade barely noted as he entered Phenac and passed the two idiots he had met before, were now carrying a sack.

But he really didn't care, he was on his own now and had to deal with saving his own hide and keeping his pokemon safe... and .. looking down at Violet's soft yip, and then watching her turn around and point behind him, Shade had a bad feeling.

Hikage was missing.

And when two loud and pained human cries were let out behind, Shade knew that Hikage had gone and done something stupid again. But he didn't expect that the Umbreon had actually done something good, untill he turned around and saw the Umbreon fighting to get the sack open, gnawing away at the knot, growling loudly at the two men that now either held a hand or their faces from the biting and scratching Hikage had done to them. And above the growls of Hikage, he could hear a cry of Help.

Coming from the sack.

While Shade was normally an uncaring person, if Hikage was so up to the task to save whatever was calling for help, then Shade guessed he'd have to get involved. As the last time he had intervined when the Umbreon was trying to do a 'good' deed, the dark kitsune had pouted for a week or more.

The idiots didn't even see what hit them as with an order, Espeon mentally attacked them and sent them crashing to the ground. Puffed up with pride, Violet started to groom herself, looking like the cat that got the cream as Shade went over to help untie the sack. After he had repeatedly said that help had come, as the sack it seemed muffled sounds or the person could just be hard of hearing. Working at the knot for a few seconds, he frowned upon realization that this was a knot that Snaggem had used, and only another Snaggem member, or someone with a knife could untie this.

And Shade decided... it might have been a good idea to help Hikage out this time.

Finally the knot was undone, the sack's mouth opened and pushed away as he helped whomever it was get into a seated position before unwrapping them, he paused a moment, and blinked. Then gave a small grin, "Well well well, what do we have here? Or rather, who?" Shade said, taking in the sight of the freed girl, long black hair was pulled back into a braid, while brown eyes looked up into his from behind glasses.

"I'm Amy and .. um, thank you." The girl said quickly.

"Well Amy, seems you've gotten into a bit of trouble," Shade started, holding out a hand for the girl to take as he stood up, drawing the girl to her feet and helping the fellow teenager to keep her balance. And unknowingly to the girl, she'd already been claimed by the young man that was helping her, she most likely wouldn't believe it as she tried to figure out why she had been snatched by those men. Then a fuzzy lump attached itself to her leg and she looked down and saw it was an Umbreon, growling softly as he rubbed his head up and down her leg, tail wagging slowly and eyes closed. And even Violet wasn't being that stand-offish about the girl, though she wasn't that warm either.

Shade on the other hand, said nothing for a moment, thinking. Shade hadn't wanted to stick around Phenac for awhile, but he wasn't cruel enough as to leave a girl, most likely way out of her element on her own like this. "Cmon Amy, it's getting late and the PokeCenter here closes in a few minutes."

_And that is how Shade met Amy. And now the adventure really begins ..._

**_To be continued in;  
Chapter Two: Failure_**


	2. Chapter Two

_Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon, etc_

* * *

_**Chapter Two;  
Failure**_

* * *

Shade sat on the sofa by the window, letting his head rest against the glass as he lazily watched the sun begin to rise and the people of Phenac start to go about their buisness. Reluctantly moving his head away from the glass, he turned to look at the young woman laying on the rest of the sofa beside him. Amy appeared to be in a deep sleep she wasn't about to wake up anytime soon from, even with Hikage making a new home on her side. 

Rolling his eyes slightly, he returned his gaze back to the window, the nice act had surprised him, but most of all it was how Shade felt like he had to keep the girl close. And not just because she seemed unable to survive on her own. And it was proven as most of her things weren't with her anymore, as he remembered the dismay on her face once they had reached the Center after the mad dash over half the city. Her money, her phone, hell even a locket her mother had given to her was gone.

The red haired man snorted as he stared coldly out the windows. Something inside him said he should have done more then just knock them out.

A soft groan beside him alerted Shade to Amy waking up from her slumber. Turning and tilting his head slightly, the young man watched the younger female slowly pull herself from her deep sleep, hazel eyes cracking open and not really focusing on anything due to the absecence of her glasses.

Hikage complained about his bed waking up, but he quickly got off when Shade reached over and pushed the Umbreon off of Amy, who then shut up about the shove when he smelt the food his sister was eating and the Umbreon was off like a shot. This caused Shade to chuckle softly and mostly to himself as Amy pushed herself up, smoothing her clothes down and pulling her glasses on.

She then froze somewhat as her body caught up to her mind, and she gave a small cough to gain her compainion's attention as she glanced over at him. "Um .. Shade was it?"

"Yes,"

"Er ... where .. is the bathroom?" Amy asked and glanced down at the floor in an attempt to hide her embaresment, and only succeded in getting Shane's chuckle to evolve into soft laughter.

"Down the hall on the right, second door you come to on the left. Make sure to knock the door and then lock it. It's a unisex thing, as they're to cheap to get-" Shade halted when he realized that Amy was already gone, and seemed to have disappeared down the hall already. Chuckling again, Shade leaned back in the sofa and waited for Amy to return.

Several minutes passed and the young woman soon exited the hallway, she turned to walk over to Shade, and then a look of horror flitted over her features. Shade blinked, and glanced over to his right, and let out one hell of a string of swears as he was bowled over by a large red chicken blasting through the glass and bounding over him. Amy's scream tore through the air, startling trainers awake (not that there were many left to awake after the sound of breaking glass) and between one instant and the next, they were gone.

Almost snarling like a wild animal, Shade grabbed his pokebelt from the table and roared for Hikarge and Violet as he got to his feet and leapt through the window. Landing hard on his feet, he all but tore off Typhoon's pokeball and chucked it up into the air. Screaming the pokemon's name as a summons.

The Heavyball burst wide open, and a crack of red energy swirled out and unleashed the Pocket Monster into the air as the black and blue ball zoomed down towards Shade who caught it. "Typhoon, go after a fucking red and white fire chicken! And get the girl it stole! NOW!"

Typhoon shrieked and flapped his wings several times, annoyed he was called out to track down something, but the sound was the only voicing of disgust at being used as a hound as he swivled his head, caught sight of the Blaziken and left a sonic boom behind him as he took off.

Coughing and swatting sand away from his face, Shade turned and was about to follow on foot when three people in guady suits showed up. Hissing in rage and from the eyefull he caught, Shade pulled his visor down and glared at the trio that prevented him from moving on. "What do you want?" He demanded as Hikage and Violet stood near him growling.

The one in red laughed as his blue and green companions moved to box Shade in and the young man knew he was trapped, Hikage and Violet were strong, but against an all out assault he knew was most likely comming ... lets face it. Shade knew they weren't invincible.

"You're a troublesome fellow, but one that will easily be taken care of." Red suit tossed out along with two pokeballs. As did his fellows.

Shade's gaze snapped around as Hikage and Violet's grumblings became louder. A grimer, a Spoink. There was a ghost pokemon too, Shade thought it was a Haunter, he wasn't sure. Then the wierder pokemon appeared, for some reason he knew something was off about these three pokemon. One was blue, and crocodillian. Croconaw he identified somehow. The second, green, with two leaf like tails and a red belly, and also stood on hind legs was a Treecko, and the third .. damn the third was a Charmeleon.

And all seemed somehow .. stronger then the rest.

Shade felt like a trapped animal, and one about to be 'dealt' with.

Then a battle cry from two people sounded in the air. Or rather one yelling 'GANG WAY' and another screaming to be let go. The blue guy on Shade's right was suddenly shoved forward and two trainers, maybe ten and twelve years old at the most suddenly had appeared, and quickly the dragger was behind Shade, helping his fellow to stand, who happened to be a girl it seemed, and she complained. Loudly about this.

"Midori," the taller one said scolding almost, "We _have_ to help, it's only right!"

"You're going to get us killed," 'Midori' moaned out as she grabbed two pokeballs from her waist as her travel partner did the same. But Shade wasn't complaining, "You two, take on blue and green. Chuckle boy is mine."

"Alright," Midori said before the young boy could reply, and looked over at him. "Alright Ashura, lets see what our pokemon can do!"

Ashura nodded, quickly throwing two pokeballs forward, "Ponyta, Raichu I choose you!" Ashura yelled as he went to take on the one with a Haunter and the Treecko. His partner Midori was going after the Croconaw and Spoink, chucking her two pokeballs forward, "Stantler, take down that piggy!" Midori demanded as the large deer type formed, then turned her attention towards the second pokeball, "Donphan, go after that Croconaw!"

Pulling his attention away from the help, Shade sent in his two pokemon, ignoring the smug look and surprised and pained yells behind him as the twin Eeveelutions charged forwards with battle cries, Violet attacked the Grimer without mercy as Hikage went to use a Bite attack on the fire lizard.

Only to have the fire pokemon kinda dodge to the left. And then it charged, heading straight for Shade, who could only yell in surprise as his pokemon cried out in horror as the Charmeleon dragged an arm back, claws glowing blood red and gold as it readied to use a Dragon Claw attack on Shade...

* * *

Typhoon snapped his wings through the air, eyes narrowed as he chased after the running Blaziken. He had followed it out of the town and was diving down to attack the fire pokemon when a blast of water came tearing up from the ground somewhere to Typhoon's right. Screaming in pain and anger, Typhoon swerved and pulled up out of the dive, hissing as the water soaked into his rock like skin. 

Blue eyes narrowed as he swung around, spying that the human the Blaziken had been holding was now struggling against a white haired human. The Blaziken was withdrawn, but the Blastoise still was out and had both cannon barrels locked onto Typhoon. He roared in fury at being denied his reward he would have gotten for saving the girl before tearing off, back to Phenac. He was no match alone, and was not about to go on a suicide mission.

The Aerodactyl quickly gained hieght, using it to put distance between himself and the enemy behind him, then pulled out of the thermal he had used and headed for the city, to find his new '_trainer_'.

* * *

Shade screamed in pain as the dragon type attack tore into him. He morbidly watched his blood fly up, and how it rained down on anything near him as he fell to the left, landing heavily on his side. Violet howled in fury as she charged, powering up a blast of psychic energy but the Haunter, who had been flitting around avoiding damage, appeared before Violet, and before the Espeon could react, and to Shade's horror, the pokemon had a Shadow Ball blasted right in her face. One yelp was all that escaped her, and Hikage roared, trying to go after the Haunter and Charmeleon. But he was downed quickly too, burns covering his body from the over powered Flamethrower from the cruel eyed Charmeleon. And as the lizard turned to face him, Shade knew he was about to die. And the pained cries and thuds behind him let Shade know that the foolish children that were trying to help him were about to die. 

Shutting his eyes, Shade wondered if it would have been different if he had tried to get out of Snaggem sooner, but doubted it. Guessing he would have died sooner or later, Shade decided later was better then sooner as the Charmeleon yelled out in victory and the human could almost feel the heat of the flame going to hit him ...

And .. nothing happened.

A soft whicker filled the air, and Shade cracked an eye open, and found himself looking up at a glowing Ponyta that suddenly just exploded in a burst of light and energy, and standing before him now, was one hell of a Rapidash.

And Rapidash did _not_ look happy.

Ears flattening against his skull, the stallion horse all but screamed bloody murder at the opponents and pokemon. And charged like a firey streak.

It doesn't have to be told that the horse succeded in running them all off, but when the horse came back the pokemon almost spooked at what landed heavily onto the ground infront of Shade. Blue eyes almost darkened to blackas the Aerodactyl snorted at the smell of blood in his nostrils, and gently nudged Shane, ignoring how red streaks were left on his muzzle. A soft 'Aeroooa' escaped the Pteradactly pokemon and Shade slumped bonelessly to the ground, not trying to get up. It didn't take a genious to guess what the Aerodactyl had said.

And nor was Typhoon the only one with a bitter taste in his mouth as Shade let himself fall into the darkness and blameless shadows that sleep offered now.

**_To be continued in;  
Chapter Three: Recovery_**


	3. Chapter Three

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon nor anything related to pokemon, etc_

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Three:  
Recovery**

* * *

_Dark._

_Everything_ was dark.

Then Shade's ebony world of sleep was pelted by voices. Sounds. Strange beeping noises he really didn't give a damn about as one word rang through his head.

_Failure._

He_is_ a failure.

He, Shade, had somehow come into the mind set he had to protect that girl. A simple task surely.

And Shade had_ failed_ in that task.

Now everything was enjoying his shame, he could see them. Laughing at him now. He should have been like the others ... should have acted like them ... he should never have tri-

Shade's dark world suddenly exploded into light and he screamed, it felt like two forces were fighting over him and he didn't understand completely as darkness washed over him, then was pushed back and he was pulled towards the light.

He cried out in pain as it felt like the light was searing his skin. Burning him, why didn't it leave him to the shadows? There was no pain there-

_'Pain means you are alive.'_

If Shade's eyes were open, he'd have blinked them from confusion and slight recignition, that voice... it sounded .. familure.

_'Pain is like love. Both hurt. Both show you're alive. Both are something almost everything hates to feel, but loves what it can mean. Never forget tha-'_

"CLEAR!"

Shade's eyes snapped open when he heard that yell that shattered the dream, and a shock traveled through his system, and his heart which felt like it had froze in mid-beat suddenly came to life in a flurry, thump-thumping away. The young man gasped for air as he clawed at the substance, it hurt. Everything hurt. His mind was awash with the pain, and as his strength fled his body, Shade slumped onto the bed, eyes half closed as he lay there. Feeling like death warmed over.

"It's a miracle," he heard a nurse whisper.

_'No,'_ Shade thought sourly to himself as he closed his eyes, _'I just can't die when I want too.'_

Hours later found Shade alone in a recovery room, well, not alone exactly. A drugged up Ashura and a sleeping Midori accompanied him. But Shade felt like he might as well have been alone. For some reason .. everything seemed duller without that girl around. And it didn't help his pokemon weren't allowed out in the hospital. He could understand Typhoon, but his Espeon and Umbreon too?

Sighing Shade shut his eyes, but his peace was shattered as Ashura decided to try to sing a song. A very annoying Song. A song that normally made Shade shudder, but this made his skin crawl in his utter horror at how high pitched the pre-teen could sing. Had someone kicked Ashura in the balls? Shade found himself wondering.

After several torturous moments, Ashura finally stopped singing and just sat there. Staring into nothing.

"They** _took_** him." He said suddenly. And he didn't wait for someone to say 'Who?' as he started speaking almost imidiately after, "My Raichu. That theif in green stole my Raichu. I _tried_ to stop him. But RaiRai was taken anyway. My poor RaiRai." Ashura murmured, slumping backwards onto the bed.

"... they took Midori's Donphan too. Donphan was her first pokemon, did you know that?" Ashura told the room in general. "I caught him for her. Because she couldn't catch a pokemon for herself, and no one would allow her to go on a journey. So we left together, and I caught that Phanpy for her. ... and they**_ took_** him.

"Why are they taking our friends?" Ashura asked as he rolled over, a few sobs escaping him. And Shade clenched his jaw tight. Why hadn't he followed the damn rule of not getting involved?

Before he could let himself answer that, he slowly pushed himself up into a seated position, ignoring the fire flaring up in his abdomen region as he swung his feet off the bed and grabed the pokebelt from the table beside the hospital bed. Uncaring about the gown he wore, Shade stiffly walked over to where his other items lay, one hand holding his side while the other had a hold of the belt.

Silently he vowed to get that girl back. And if even one hair on her head was out of place...

Shade found himself thinking on what exactly he would do, and strangely, it felt good to fall back into the habit of beating the shit out of people.

Shade frowned slightly as he picked up his shirt. It was ruined, but there was no helping it as he pulled it on, then his cloak and pants after getting rid of the gown. No one ever said Shade was really modest, not that he wasn't. It's just to him, right now there was a more important thing to do then find a bathroom to change in as he turned and limped over to the window, fumbling with it for several moments before finally getting it open, panting heavily and gripping onto anything near at hand as dizzyness swept through his mind and sat there for several moments before he could fight it off.

Grabbing the heavy ball from the belt, Shade maximized it and pressed the button again, letting the beam of energy stream out of the window and unleash Typhoon into the world. The Aerodactly screamed loudly as he swung around, flapping akwardly but he managed to keep himself in the air and bring his head through the window for Shade to grab and climb onto the ancient dragon like pokemon.

And as he was doing this, the door open, and a yell from a person Shade knew all to well filled the air. But he was already on the Aerodactyl and Typhoon pulled his head back, glaring evilly at his former trainer before twisting and darting off. Typhoon took a guess as to where the half passed out human wanted to go. The same direction as the girl had been dragged off into. And if the pokemon's memory served him well, Typhoon knew where that would most likely have lead them.

To Pyrite.

* * *

To say Miror B. was brave would be something to laugh at, as it was far from the truth. And to pity him would be pity, or sympathy misplaced. For he got what he deserved most of the time, for he had underestimated Nascour. And he was paying the price. 

Speaking of Nascour, the currently now statue like man stood a few feet from the somewhat cowering Miror B., holding the bridge of his nose as he sighed suddenly. And he moved, dispelling the illusion that he was something carved from stone as blood red eyes opened and silver/grey hair shifted as he turned his attention back to the cowering man. And in the back of his mind Nascour wondered how on earth Miror B. could stand having an afro that was about four feet wide at times.

"Let me get this straight," Nascour started, his gaze shifting from the Cipher 'Admin' to where a young woman lay on a couch, being attended to another woman older than the sleeping one by several years. "_You_, against Ein's wishes, and even Venus's advice, and trust me. Venus _rarely_ gives good advice, but when she does, it's something you should listen too," Nascour continued, still not looking at Miror B., "went and gave away not one. Not five. But _**FIFTEEN**_ of our Shadow pokemon to winners of your little Colosseum games. Plus you gave three to a trio of idiots that nearly ruined my plans." Nascour snapped, his red eyes cold and hard as he looked back at Miror B, and it was all the Admin could do to not squeal like a little girl and hide behind the golden sleeves of his guady outfit.

"I'm sorry Master Nas-"

"**_Shut up_**, you simpering fool." Nascour snaps out at Miror B. "You're job is to now guard that girl. Keep her safe. And if I hear you try to do anything to her ..."

Miror B. stood there for a few moments, waiting for Nascour to continue, and when the phantom like man didn't, he coughed, and asked, "And if you do?"

"It won't be_ nearly_ as bad as what I did when I found out what you tried to do to Clair. But it will be bad, you whimpering idiot. It will be bad. Because Clair doesn't mind if I get a bit .. bloodied, with my work."

Miror B. gulped and backed away from Nascour as said woman finally moved away from the young teenager, sighing mostly to herself. "Really Nascour," she started, violet eyes holding a tint of scolding accusation to them as she stared up at the much taller man, "You should know not everyone is made for this desert."

Nascour just let out a thoughtfull hum as he raised a hand and ran it over Clair's vibrant and dark blue hair, "I thought you were going to dye it green this time."

Clair rolled her eyes, but it was the closest thing to an 'I'm sorry for nearly killing the girl,' she was going to recive from Nascour is there was company. "You warned the singing pervert to not do anything I asume?"

"Yes love, I have. Now why don't you go outside, there's a pokemon out there for you," Nascour said, motioning for Clair to go, but her eyes were already lighting up, and she was asking what he got her, Nascour only laughed and pushed her forward with a hand to the small of her back, and the young woman was off like a shot, and only a few seconds later a loud cry of 'CUTE!' rang into the air. Nascour smirked for a moment, then glanced over at Miror B., his face going expressionless, "Remeber what I said." And with that he left, leaving a shaking Miror B in his wake.

Miror B. stood there, shaking and not moving for a minute or two, but they stretched out like an eternity. And when he was sure that Nascour wasn't coming back, he called for the two peon's of his that were female, "Reath, Ferma! Come here now!" He'd have them take care of the woman on the couch, he wasn't stupid like Dakim to invoke the wrath of Nascour more then once. Nascour was just a man you did not cross, and if you did, god have mercy.

Because Nascour won't.

"I'm doomed," Miror B. wailed as he left the room once Reath and Ferma appeared.

* * *

It felt like a thousand years of hell as Shade gasped in pain as Typhoon landed, trying not to jar his passanger, but failed. Crying out, even muffledly, Shade clenched his eyes shut, wishing the pain would stop, but it didn't, and somehow he knew it wouldn't. So grunting and bearing it, he half slid, half fell off Typhoon and onto his feet. Sand and small pebbles crunched under his boots as he recalled the Aerodactyl, and let out Violet, praying silently they had healed his pokemon. And for a moment when she formed, he feared they hadn't, but the Espeon was only asleep. Sighing in relief, he recalled her and knew that Hikage would be healed too. And most likely asleep like his sister. 

_'Atleast...'_ Shade thought to himself as he started to limp into Pyrite, _'I didn't lose everything.'_

Shade paused in his limping gait long enough to pull the visors over his eyes, and stood up, pulling his arm away from protecting his side as he let his pain twist his mouth into a scowl. Shade knew of Pyrite. This was not a place to show weakness, or even hint at it, as the police force here was startling under-employed, and there was little in the way of order here.

_'Hang on Amy,'_ thought Shade as he slowly entered the town, dead set on finding the girl,_ 'I'll find you. Wherever you are. However long it takes.'_ Shade vowed to himself.

**To Be Continued In;  
Chapter Four: Shadow Battles**


	4. Chapter Four

_Disclaimer: _I don't own pokemon. So there.

* * *

**_Chapter Four;  
Shadow Battles_**

* * *

_'Where..._

_... Shade?_

_... why ... so cold._

_I ..._

_I can't see ..._

_.. no light ..._

_... shadows .. only shadows ..._

_... Shade ..._

_.. where are you?'_

* * *

There was a time, before this 'hellish eternity' that Shade would later call this search for Amy, that Shade cared for nothing. No one. At eight he was the perfect little stoic little soldier for Snaggem. Simon, at the age then of eighteen, took Shade under his wing and acted like an older brother. 

If you call beating the hell out of Shade when he messed up being an older brother...

Shade couldn't remember a thing before he was eight, nor did he really care for anything after he was eight. That is, untill he was around fifteen. And he and some others had raided one of the few pokemon breeders of the place. He knew by '_raiding_' they killed the human owner and stole the pokemon.

But something that could be called a mishap happened, and Shade stumbled onto a female Vaporeon, valiantly trying to protect two small cubs from one of the theifs pokemon, if he remembered correctly it was a Seviper. Visious one too, as when the mother leapt towards the fiend with intent on using a Take Down, the pokemon spat acid at the Vaporeon, blinding her and sealing her fate by eating the female whole.

Shade really didn't care about the death, just the loss. Female Eevee's and their evolutions were rare and very, very hard to come by. But he really didn't care. He had been brought their for one purpos. And as he turned to leave, about to let the Seviper ingest the two kits, a soft mewling caught his attention .. and Shade doesn't remember what happened next.

He had been told though, that time had seemed to freeze, or he had sped up, and in the span between one moment and the next, he was over and infront of the two cubs, his foot swung up and still held in the air. And the death rattle of a Seviper with half it's skull broken brokle the silence that had fallen over the room. Wordlessly he had scooped up the kits, snarled out 'Mine' at anyone that came near and stormed off.

Shade did remember when he 'came too' that the kits were asleep on his bed, already forgetting the danger they had been in, or that their mother was dead.

And barely a day ago, Shade had been overcome with that same feeling to help the girl. Damn everything else human, but that girl was his now. His to protect and watch over. His to keep safe.

And it was all confusing to the young man, Shade just didn't understand what was happening. But he knew one thing was for certian, he had to get her back. If Snaggem was after her, or atleast the disbanded members of it anyways, then she was in extreme danger.

"Well, well, well." A voice of honey and sugar cooed out as a trainer around Shade's age appeared, she looked him up and down and grinned, "Well aren't you a fine piece of eye candy?" She breathed out, shifting her stance slightly to try and flaunt herself at Shade.

It took all of the young man's will power to not roll his eyes at the "Out of my way." Shade demanded, glaring at the young woman. She pouted, pretending to be hurt by his callous attitude. "I'm sorry baby, but this is Duel Square. Any trainer you meet here, you have to fight. Unless you have another idea..." She trailed off suggestively.

Shade snorted in contempt. "Don't make me hurt you."

Scowling angrily, she grabbed a pokeball. "I'll make you regret turning me down!" She declared, throwing the pokeball forward and unleashing a large brown/grey pokemon. For a moment Shade mistook it for a floating rock, and then blood red eyes slowly opened.

A chill swept through Shade and something inside him said that this pokemon was not normal or average. Snatching up Hikage's pokeball, he maximized it, then threw it out. Summoning his companion to the battle scene.

"Breeon, um umbreon!" Hikage threw out as he formed, ears pricked forward, even though he had been badly burned, he was completely restored, and ready to fight for Shade once more. But the Umbreon paused, his nose twitching and he turned his head slightly. Shade stared at his partner silently before turning his focus back to the woman and her Lunatone. "Hikage, finish this quickly!"

"BRE!" Hikage almost roared out as he seemed to fade and then re-appeare infront of the Lunatone. It tried a psywave attack like it's trainer commanded, but the attack didn't even strike the dark type. It just seemed to roll off the pokemon's fur and strike the ground directly behind the Umbreon, and caused stone and sand to fly, so the attack had worked .. just not on Hikage.

The Umbreon took the startled shock of both the human and pokemon to his advantage and struck. Biting down harshly on the Lunatone, a dark aura surrounding him and especially his mouth as fangs caused rock like skin to crack and they drew a vile looking ichor from the floating rock pokemon.

It screamed, or atleast attempted too it seemed, as it thrashed, managing to dislodge Hikage from the 'nose' like growth. But the damage was already done, blood like liquid flowed freely from the wounds and the woman gave a cry of 'No!' as she recalled the Psychic/Rock type, threw out a snarled curse at Shade and ran off.

"Good job, boy." Shade commented as he recalled Hikage, the dark kitsune giving a yipping cry of his name as he was withdrawn. He started forward again, taking slow and deliberate steps, his breathing was slightly shallow, but otherwise he was fine.

_For now._

* * *

Miror B was not having a good day. Though that was the understatement of the year as he placed one hand to the half red, half white poof ball of an afro he sported. "What," he began, "do you mean to say that most of the shadow pokemon have been given out?" 

The underling of Miror B shook with fear as he held the list in his hand, "W-w-w-while you and mist-mis-mister Na-na-na-nasc-co-cor t-talked f-f-four p-people w-won t-the co-co-colosseum," he stuttered out from his fear.

Miror B twitched.

He was in so much trouble right now.

"What were they," Miror B muttered as he rubbed at his face with his hands, wishing he was dead. Because he was going to get worse treatment if Nascour found out. The underling didn't even try speaking, handing the report to Miror B and then ran as if his life depended on it. And it most likely did as the Ciper Admin started to scan through the list to the last four.

'_Please not them, please not those four. Please I want to live_.' Miror B thought to himself as his eyes settled onto the last four pokemon on the list.

'**Pokemon S. Experiment 0019:** _Nidoking. Male. Level; 44. Main Attacks: Shadow Rush, Brick Break, Thunder. Less used Attacks: Roar, Iron Tail, Megahorn. Status: Un-obtained._

'**Pokemon S. Experiment 0304:** _Bagon. Male. Level; 49. Main Attacks: Shadow Rush, Scary Face, Bite, Frustration. Less used Attacks: Flamethrower, Headbutt, Rest. Status: Un-obtained._'

So far Miror B was relieved, so far two of those four pokemon weren't given out yet. As these were some of the higher level shadow pokemon, and he didn't think Nascour would be pleased if those were given out to trainers. When he checked the third pokemon he was pleased. It was still there.

But that pleased feeling drained to utter dread as he looked at the fourth and final pokemon on his Shadow list.

'**Pokemon S. Experiment 1024:**_ Gyarados. Female. Level 65. Main Attacks: Shadow Rush, Hyper Beam, Hydro Pump, Body Slam. Less used Attacks: Ice Beam, Frustration, Roar, Bite. Status: Obtained by trainer Nichole Sherman._'

"... I'm dead." Miror B moaned as he dropped the list, clutching at his head as he went over what he could do now that one of the strongest shadow experiments was in the hands of a girl.

* * *

Shade looked around, he'd been walking for an hour now and he was hot, tired. Hurt, and he had started leaking through the bandages. Which wasn't a good sign, but he wasn't about to call it a day just yet. There was still an hour of light left atleast. 

"Hey, what's a guy like you doing in a place like this?" A voice called out. Shade turned his head slightly, glancing over his shoulder and saw the owner of the voice leaning against a wall and in some shadows. Evidently the person was smarter then Shade was about staying out of the sun. Eventhough Shade wasn't really hot for that reason.

"I lost something." He answered, and turned slightly. "Why are you here?"

The person pushed away from the wall and cleared the shadows, revealing a young woman about his age or so, a scowl marred her face as grey eyes glinted like steel as the light struck them while pale blue hair adorned her head in a long braid that reached the middle of her back. "Hiding from some jerks," she replied. "By the way, I'm Nichole."

"Shade." The former snagger responded with as he turned around to face the now named young woman. Nichole acted like she was about to speak before a screaming war cry erupted into the air, sounding like something had been grabbed and was being murdered. Shade tensed, his head snapping about as he ignored the pain cutting into his body.

Nichole's eyes grew wide as she swore softly, "They couldn't have found me so soon.."

Shade's gaze snapped back to the blue haired woman, "Who?" He demanded, and Nichole turned somewhat frightened eyes onto Shade's form, "These goons, I won this colosseum battle, and they appeared and dragged me off to some factory, and was given a pokemon ... a wierd pokemon, but it was free. I didn't complain. And now they want it back but when I offered to give it willingly... they attacked..." Nichole trailed off, her steel eyes paling slightly to further show off her distress at the situation. Shade was about to say something when it seemed fate decided to step in without knocking, and say hello.

Shade opened his mouth as if to speak. But what he was going to say was lost in the wind that gusted up and the shrieking form of a Fearow swooped over head, sending grit flying which forced the two humans to cover their faces ot had sand and other such small items get into their noses, eyes or mouths.

"Well well, look at what Qura found." Said a snide voice as the dust started to clear from the air, and just enough for Shade to lower his arm a tad and see two figures emerging from the dust the way the Fearow had come as said bird pokemon screamed from up above somewhere in the sky once more.

"Seems you finally found a use for that shadow pokemon," retorted the other dryly as he crossed his arms infront of himself, frowning as he caught sight of Shade along side Nichole, who it seemed had darted over to the only person that could be remotely better then the duo before them.

"Didn't the boss say there was only one?" The taller one said, looking down at the one that had first spoken, and all he recived was a shrug from his male companion. "We might just get a few more pokemon to make more ultimate ones..." The first suggested, trailing off in his suggestion to show it wouldn't have been such a bad thing to run into a trainer without a shadow pokemon.

"I have a bad feeling..." Nichole whispered to Shade as she brushed against him, showing she wanted to draw some form of comfort but dared not touch him for real, Shade felt a part of himself growling at that, but reason won over instincts of personal space, as the girl was most likely absolutely terrified and it wouldn't help matters if he snapped at her. So instead he directed his attention outward and to speaking.

"We have a chance, no matter how strong these idiots are. You take on the smaller ones pokemon, I shall take the other opponent."

Shade heard something which sounded like a snorted 'men' but she didn't complain outside of that as now wasn't the time to be wasting energies on such a fruitless effort. Grabbing a wierd looking pokeball from her waist, Nichole maximized it as Shade hesitated somewhat in choosing a pokemon. Mentally he was calculating what he should use.

Typhoon would be at a dis-advantage here, having been used for travel, chasing after Amy, and another flight session without having had a chance for a proper rest. Violet would most likely still be asleep as he hadn't had her out that much while here, so that left him with Hikage. Grabbing the dark type's poke ball, he maximized it and clutched it in his right hand, waiting for the chance to summon his pokemon from the orb.

Which came sooner then expected as all a sudden Nichole released her chosen pokemon. That turned out to be a very large, red Gyarados. It screamed out it's name in a strangled roar, head crest glistening like a blood red ruby on it's head while it's fins flattened against it's body, showing that the Gyarados did not like the desert like quality of her new home. But when Nichole snapped out her orders, the now identified female Gyarados charged forward with a snarling bellow of challenge at the goons.

Yelping in fear, the smaller one chucked forward a pokeball and released something that Shade saw for barely a flash of a second, a Kingdra, and then all he could see was walls of red scales that belonged to the abnormal colored Gyarados.

From the remaining goon, came forth a Machamp, blue skin, black eyes and fin like crests adorned it's head and it glared at Shade a moment before grinning evilly and cracked it's knuckles. "Machamp," the trainer drolled out as if this was the most boring show on earth, "pound the little wimp and take his monsters, Mmkay?"

"Champ Macha!" The fighting type bellowed out, closing two hands into a fist and charged, Shade was taken aback momentairly, not having expected a goon to be smart, or dumb, enough to out right attack a trainer. And for a moment a flash of thought ran through his mind, what if this is what those two idiots had done to Amy..?

It was enough to snap Shade into action as he threw the pokeball forward with such force it struck the Machamp on the head, earning a pained cry from the blue moutain of muscle and the fighting type flinched back a moment, allowing the red and white sphere to tumble backwards and crack open, letting a beam of red energy stream forth and bounce onto the ground before quickly forming the shape of Shade's faithfull Hikage.

The Umbreon sneered out his name as golden ringed ears flattened against his skull, crimson and navy blue eyes narrowed as the ebony kitsune like pokemon crouched and let out a small growl at the enemy. Sensing something was off in the much larger pokemon before him.

"So the wimp fights back? No matter, nothing is a match for my Machamp! Attack!"

The fighting type let out a noise that could be something akin to a bellow and lunged forwards, fists blurring as he attempted to pummel the Umbreon to pulp. Yelping in startlement more than fear, Hikage leapt backwards with greater agility and grace then one would think for the darker evolution of Eevee. Snarling as he landed only a few feet infront of Shade, Hikage charged forwards, barely waiting for his trainer's snapped command of 'Take Down!'

Evolving into a black blur, the Umbreon seemed to just appear infront of the Machamp and struck the fighter with the harsh attack, sending the four armed fighting type flailing backwards as Hikage himself was sent realing back a bit, forced to shake himself to clear the slight dizzy spell that had taken over his mind.

"Gah, Machamp you pathetic shadow monster, use Karate Chop!"

Shade was given no time to yell out at Hikage to duck or run or do anything as the fighter bore down on the still dazed dark type. Two hands struck the pokemon mercilessly on the back and Hikage's side, sending the dark type flying backwards and to a halt at the feet of Shade's stunned form.

"Hikage!" Shade finally managed to get out, ignoring the battle around him as he stooped quickly to scoop the knocked out pokemon into his arms. With narrowed eyes he glared daggers at the human, and the pokemon... and everything for Shade turned dark as he lost conciousness.

_Or_ so he thought.

* * *

Nichole had been behind her Gyarados, or mostly behind the creature when the mighty water serpent seemed to still for some reason, not even acknowledging the attempts to penitrate her armored hide as the red beast turned her head slightly, and let out a roar, shifting her massive bulk around Nichole and imprisoning the human in a cavern of dimmed red and cream scales. Five seconds passed, just enough time for her to wonder what was going on when a sort of whumph sound came, and several screams filled the air, first due to immense terror. Then pain. And finally it was all still. Gyarados didn't move for several minutes, untill Nichole started pounding on the giant snake's scales, and slowly the wierdly colored pokemon backed off from protecting her master, and both human and pokemon were a bit taken aback at the scene that met their eyes. 

Small fires littered the area, while two groaning forms covered in ash, that could have once been clothing lay half passed out on the ground. A Machamp and Kingdra were completely K.Oed... and as for the final person Nichole looked around for, she didn't see him.

But there was a knocked out Umbreon and pokebelt. Along with some sort of contraption...

"... you know Gyarados," Nichole started as she cautiously, but quickly went over to where the items and pokemon lay, "I never thought spontainous combustion was possible..."

A low rumble from the red pokemon alerted Nichole she most likely had guessed wrong, but still she grumbled at having to baby sit the guy's stuff. Though it was more out of worry, confusion and some fear over what had just happened, and where that guy was.

_**To Be Continued In;  
Chapter Five: Into the Fury**_


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: As always I don't own pokemon.

A/N: Be warned, there might be some material that pushes the T raiting, but I think it still slides by as the fic isn't really geared towards stuff like that.

**Chapter Five;  
Into the Fury**

_From frail safety, into mindless fury  
Emotions tempered into something made of cruelty  
Seconds in time now instead of ever lasting  
Man who sought the powers of a god  
Only brought the wrath of it down upon them_

_Part of a Phrophecy found in the ancient ruins of Alph and also in the Pokemonopalis ruins

* * *

_

-

* * *

-

* * *

Shade didn't know where he was going, or what he was going to do when he got wherever it was. All that he knew right now amongst all the turmoil and boiling sea of rage, sorrow and something else in his mind was that he had to find Amy. Nothing else mattered. Amy was in danger, he needed to find her. Needed to save her. He had to fix the failure from before.

Indiferent to how people shied away, paled at the sight of him or dropped into a faint for unknown reasons, Shade continued in his quest to find Amy. The crimson haired man's head was slightly bowed towards the ground while his eyes were narrowed to golden slits. That wasn't the posture that would normally bring on such extreme reactions from people. It was due to a throbbing aura of darkness that cloaked around Shade. Not that normal humans could see it. But it was like they could feel a wrongness in the air.

It was ancient, and almost tangible. And some still swear to this day, that if they had reached out, dared to hold that much bravery, or stupidity in their hearts, their questing fingers would have struck something no human had dared to ever run their hands over for centuries.

Because to say Shade is human .. completely ... is to say the sky is red and rains rare pokemon. It's just not the truth, though it is something many would hold onto as it is better then what the truth could be. Might be. Will be...

But Shade didn't even fully know of what he is, or was. There were whispers, ghosts of thought from something else. Hints and traces to something more then his mind right now could handle.

The important thing to remember though, for right now, is that Shade isn't human. He isn't a clone. He is something ... other. Something that was long forgotten. Something that mankind should never had dared to dream of taming.

And he, Shade, whatever he may or may not be, is not happy at Amy being snatched away from him in such a manor, even less so since he now fully understands the true extent of the danger that these idiots presented the person he had charged himself with watching over.

The tails of his coat snap angrily thanks to the wind, acting almost like a wild living thing as he stormed on. And it almost, almost, seemed like the sky overhead grew darker. As if clouds had appeared to blot out the sun. But that is impossible to think, as there were no clouds in the sky.

Nor would it have been the clouds fault for the darkening atmosphere around Shade.

One word of his destination continually bounced around in his mind, causing his skull to feel like a sledge hammer was being pounded upon it. That word was 'Factory', if that was where these perverse pokemon were being 'made', and those others that had attacked him, and the one the girl had, and the others most likely out there. If this was where they could've originaited, Amy might lay within the walls of the factory.

And even if she wasn't there, he wouldn't stop looking. Shade would just focus his attention elsewhere. And again, he would continue in his efforts untill the young woman was once again safe and sound.

A dull throbbing in his middle temporarily cut through his thinking and for a moment Shade was given clarity... About what he was doing, thinking and how he lacked in strength and pokemon, meaning he was basically powerless. But it's snatched away by the turmoil of emotions that seemed to be endless and boiled constantly in his mind and soul, leaving Shade without a second's hesitation if the chance to save Amy appeared at his feet.

Shade doesn't get much farther before his attention is once more snapped away from the emotions the boiled angrily as something cacthes his attention, or more like a sixth sense of sorts, and his head turns ever so slightly to the right where something feels .. off.

And as the amber slits focused on whatever held the thing that had set it off, Shade grinned darkly for a moment before it was lost in a mask of ice. It was a factory. And something told him Amy lay within those walls. Needing him to come and rescue her from the spineless slugma's.

Slowly walking over to it much like a predatory pokemon to a hapless prey item, Shade for the most part ignored the small portion of his mind that clamored he shouldn't be doing such a thing without his pokemon.

Halting infront of the garage like door, Shade raised a hand and knocked on the metal harshly, bringing about a dull clang of metalic ringing that lasted for a few moments then died after a short time.

After another short period of time, a door slowly revealed itself as it was cracked open, and a young man peered out. Frowning with somewhat narrowed, eyes, the young man stared at the personn which had knocked on the door to his boss's secret hide out. "Who're you? Why're you here? We stopped giving out prizes, go home."

As he made to shut the door, one of Shade's hand snapped out quick as lightning, grabbing the door. Preventing it from shutting all the way as the other shot out and landed a punch dead center in the face of the young man. A cry of pain filled the air him after a loud yet muffled crunch came from the punch Shade launched landing square in his face. Bonelessly he fell back without another vocalisation, a spurt of blood following after the falling guarding grunt was the only sign he had once been standing upright.

A light thud came next, followed by a low groan, but Shade ignored this, stepping over the young man as he slowly came too enough to clutch at his broken nose. An indifferent Shade continued on, amber gaze flickering about the abandond building. There were signs of life still, candy wrappers and empty soda cans littered the area.

But it seemed that was all that Shade would find on this floor. Aside from the moaning 'guard'.

For the most part, the building was empty to a degree, looking like it'd been occupied only moments before Shade's arrival. But he wasn't arrogant eniough to think it was nearly deserted due to his presence. It was because of something else... the what he didn't know.

Shade continued walking, occasionaly stopping to look around, as if there was something there that could help him. And there was, it was more like a faint sense of where to go as the building was akin to a maze at times, and the junk didn't help, as Shade was forced to clear away a couple of doorways and an entrance set of stairs.

It would have unsettled normal people about there being a lack of others running around. But Shade wasn't affected by such feelings, so eyes of amber continued to flicker lazily about, mostly to make sure if there was anyone hiding in the rubbish, that they'd not be able to sneak up on Shade. And the young man continued on in his search.

-

Miror B. groaned as he rubbed at his temples, the girl wasn't awake, Reath and Ferma had adamantly stated to Miror B. they were not his rubish disposal unit and wouldn't touch the girl, and he couldn't, heaven forbid him from doing that. The bearer of the duo colored afro was not one with a death wish from Nascour, no matter how desperate he was to bug out of the now pretty much abandond base of his.

Rubbing at his temples as he sat slouched on the small stage of his, one hand gripped the star shapped gold colored sunglasses of his as one of his Ludicolo watched him worriedly as two others prodded at the female laying spread eagle on an overturned crate. The duck like, sombraro wearing grass/water types stared openly at the plain looking teenager their master had seemingly aquired somewhere/somehow.

"Loco?" One questioned with a blink of near souless eyes, and the other one shrugged, turning back to waddle over to his trainer as the third Ludicolo watched the second leave before turning his attention back to the human. Giving her a final poke before turning and following after his team mate. The first meanwhile had started to dance to a beat of music only she could hear, and was trying to cheer Miror B. up, and while it didn't work as well as the pokemon had originally hoped, she was pulling her trainer out of his slump while Reath and Ferma played a game of cards with the aide of another crate turned table.

Ferma frowned, glaring at the cards in her hands as she absently shifted the cards into one hand long enough to shove a stubborn lock of violet hair out of her eyes and adjusted the goggles on her forhead to keep the pesky strand out of her face before returning the hand to helping in holding the cards. Reath on the other hand was being less fidgety, but the dark red headed woman was still nervous.

"Doken hasn't reported in yet."

Ferma snorted as she placed her cards down onto the crate, "He most likely fell asleep. I don't know what you see in that guy, sis."

Reath just glared, muttering 'Doken's a good guy,' as she stared at her sisters cards and frowned, "Bah, I hate poker. Can't we play something else?"

"Like what, Go Fish? Old Maid?" Ferma taunted her younger sister. Reath started grumbling under her breath, and shot a few dagger filled glares at her sister, promising pain and retribution of sorts for this as she threw her cards down and stood up, storming away and over to one of the cavern walls, muttering darkly at the rock.

Ferma snickered softly to herself as she scooped up the meager wages they'd had going for the card game, and stuffed the few bills into a pocket, grinning as mentally added another notch to her score card for winning.

No one took notice how two of the Ludicolo's stopped dancing, and turned their gazes towards the door. It was only untill the first one that had started dancing stopped, and looked also, did Miror B. muster up enough energy to move his head enough to look at the door.

Now, this door is a very strong door. Strong enough to withstand a tackle from an Onix. Thick enough where a flamethrower would have trouble piercing a hole into it. Large enough where a Dragonite could walk through it without having to hunch over and wide enough for Miror B.'s afro to not get squished by it.

So everyone was slightly perplexed by a rather large dent in the metal. And the pounding sounds coming from the other side of the door, though muffled, were pretty loud, and probably louder on the other side. "Uuh, Sir ... I don't think that's Doken." Ferma said, amythist eyes growing wide as she looked at her boss.

The dents kept appearing for several moments and the air inside Miror B.'s last stand so to speak, was so thick a hot knife wouldn't have been able to slice through it.

Then the pounding ceased as did the appearence of the dents.

For a minute, no one spoke. It seemed as if time had also frozen.

Then like a lightning bolt striking the ground at your very feet, an act you would hope is impossible, the door was broken before a relieved sigh could escape Miror B. as the metal just seemed to be blown apart, and a whirlwind of power swept through the cavern.

Ferma let out a cry and ducked behind the crate as her sister Reath let out a strangled noise, diving for cover farther away from the door. Both women did not want to meet whatever had been able to turn half the door into junkyard scrap in seemingly one blow.

Miror B. sat there with wide eyes, his sunglasses dropping from his fingers due to his stunned state. His mind seemed to have blown a fuse as he couldn't comprehend something, human or pokemon, that could have been able to do that to the door so quickly. Hell, this was the stuff they were making that damn Regalm tower out of.

The overhead lights flickered for a moment as the figure slowly stepped into the cavern, eyes hard and as the lights dimmed again, almost glew with an inner flame that frightened Miror B. to the core, because for the moment his heart froze in fear, he would have sworn on his mother's grave that the person before him was Nascour. As soon as that thought zipped through the afro covered head of his, the lights brightened, casting the cavern into it's harsh white light, revealing the figure wasn't Nascour, but some scrawny looking teenager. Harsh, barking laughter escaped the Cipher admin, and if he hadn't been sitting down, Miror B. would have been doubled over as relief flooded through his body.

Shade narrowed his eyes a fraction before tearing his gaze away from the glittering golden dressed fool, and cast his gaze about the cavern. He barely even had a chance to turn his head to the right when he spotted Amy. Laying on a crude looking bench and for all he knew, dead to the world.

Something within his chest constricted.

_No..._

On shakey legs he pressed forward.

_Oh ... please ... please not again._ A tendril of thought whispered through Shade's mind.

He didn't hear Miror B.'s shout at him. He did not aknowledge that two people still hid in fear of him. All that mattered was Amy. And getting to her.

_Please, not her. Not again. No no no no no..._

He stopped inches from her limp form, gazing down at Amy. He barely whispered out her name, the name she had told him. But not Amy, for as he looked down at her, his mind was awash with memories, feelings, thoughts from another time. Long come and gone.

Amy had unknowingly become the final key in 'unlocking' Shade to his past.

Falling to his knees as his eyes grew wide, and he almost, almost looked like a lost and forlorn child, Shade bowed his head, throwing his arms over Amy, screaming out the name of the one that had taken care of him. Had watched over him. Had protected him.

Had died at the hands of foolish mortals wishing to capture his power. Mistaking her for him.

Clenching his eyes shut, the youth sought to drive back the memory, but her words still came to him.

_'Shade, promise me- I mean it! Promise me you won't come out. You'll stay hidden. You won't leave the Unknown, they will protect you far better then I have- Don't you dare try anything!'_

_'But Kina-'_

_'No! Now go, hide! No matter what happens, no matter what they try, you stay hidden! Promise me!'_

_'.. I .. promise.'_

Shade's hands tightened around Amy's clothing as another memory flooded over him.

He had gone and hid, the Unknown had been strangely silent to him. None talked, none danced, all of their single eyes were pointed in the direction he had come from. As if they could see something he could not. For a long while, all that echoed to him in this dark, musty place were angry, muffled shouting.

Then nothing for a good long while, but as Shade tried to move forward, the Unknown rushed at him, shoved him back. As if something was still going on.

Shade struggled, biting at the Unknown but for every one he took care of, ten more replaced it. The battle he fought was soon being won by the countless alphabit pokemon. But he stilled instantly when the scream sounded in the air. He knew that cry. That was a death scream. And ... and it had sounded like ...

Crying in rage and loss, Shade lunged forward. Pulling free of the Unknowns, hurttling through tunnels and passageways untill he made it to the chamber. Unknown people were in his way.

They soon were sent flying as he charged over the ground, only coming to a skidding halt infront of her body on the altar never made to recive such a sacrifice. A small part of him twinged at the defilement. But a greater part screamed at what defiled it.

The battered, broken form of the human Shade had called sister.

That was the day Shade was unleashed into the world, the day the Unknown were casted into another dimension. The day that one of the dark ones was released.

And it was about to happen again-

"... sh.. sha.. Sha..de?" A very weak voice cut through Shade's thoughts, memories, feelings. Soothing a wild beast ready to rip and shread everything that dared to stand against him to pieces. amber eyes slowly opened, letting salty tears leak out of the corner of his eyes ever so slowly once he raised his head to gaze at Amy. Brown eyes were glazed slightly from the ammount of sleep she had, unfocused at the loss of her glasses. Her once braided hair had come free of the braid and was tangled pretty badly in places. And Shade absently noted there was a smear of dirt on her face thanks to sweat and the earth.

As he reached out and dealt with the smudge maring her face, Shade silently told himself this was the most beautiful sight ever. Because Amy was alive, and not dead as he feared. "Yeah, it's me." He said gruffly, voice harsh from held back emotions. "Lets get you outta here, Amy."

"Not so fast punk! That captive was given to me to 'keep safe' and if you think you can waltz in here and sweep her away, think again! For Miror B. is in the house!"

So when Shade ignored him, and instead gently scooped up Amy, this did get Miror B. a little upset. "Ludicolo, attack!"

The pokemon leapt into action, all three ready to do as their master bid, but as Shade whirled around, ignoring his protesting injury or Amy's squawk and how she threw her arms around his neck (alright he wasn't ignoring that, though he kept quiet about it) and threw such a deadly glare at the Ludicolo they faltered, and stopped in their take down's. Even going so far as to run away from Shade to hide behind a startled Miror B.

The youth snorted slightly, and exited the cavern, leaving fear and confusion in his wake.

-

Nichole hadn't moved far from the place Shade had left her in, Gyarados loomed above her, scowling at anything that got too close to her trainer, before a wierd noise escaped the massive sea snake. Blinking her eyes from confusion, Nichole craned her neck back to look up at the red pokemon, and then looked in the direction Gyarados was watching, her eyes blinked again before she moved, "Shade?" Nichole called out as the teenager came limping into view, leaning on a younger looking teen. She heard worried babble from the teenaged girl at his side as she jogged up to them.

The man turned his attention from Amy onto Nichole, his eyes half glazed as he muttered something before collapsing onto the ground.

Amy held tears back as she tried to pull Shade up by herself, but Nichole halted her attempts, "I know of a place we can hide out in, if you trust me."

Amy nodded her head slightly as she looked at the blue haired young woman, and Nichole glanced down at Shade before looking up at her Gyarados, and commanded the pokemon to pick Shade up. Carefully.

"Where are we going?" Amy whispered.

"To my gramps. Doubt he'll be happy to see me though. And before you ask, it's in Agate. Village of the mountain mists and all that jazz," Nichole muttered as she over saw the Gyarados's actions with narrowed eyes. "Old man hopefully won't turn us away."

"Why would he?" Amy asked, evident confusion in her tone as Nichole clambored up onto her Gyarados and helped Amy up also.

"Because, I'm a former member of a defunct group. Called Team Rocket. By the way, I'm Nichole. And you are?"

Amy was a tad speechless for a long pause in time at this bit of information. "Uh ... Amy." She supplied finally, not noticing how they had already left Pyrite and were heading out into the desret. All she could do really was look down at her hands, and fear for Shade. For red stained her hands, and she did not like the thoughts of where her hands had been to gain the crimson coloring.

_'Please Shade, please don't die.'_ Amy thought with a small gulp.

-

-

_**To Be Continued In;  
Chapter Six: Shadowed Pasts**_


End file.
